Supporters: Health care costs will balloon without federal help

Busloads of Cincinnatians traveled to Columbus Thursday to rally for expanding Medicaid coverage in Ohio. They were a little soggy, but determined to tell House Republicans they're all wet for blocking Medicaid expansion.

They do like one Republican on this issue -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich. They cheered the governor for trying to extend coverage to more Ohioans.

WLWT News 5's John London talked to one woman from Evanston who would benefit. Karen Bell made the trip to Columbus to make her voice heard.

Bell told us she has skipped medical checkups because she cannot afford health insurance. "I recently had a major bout with bronchitis," she said. "So, now I'm really going to have to deal with Christ Hospital for the bill and I had to do what I trained people not to do, which was use the emergency room."

Under the umbrellas on the soaked Statehouse lawn, they gathered in grassroots fashion -- hundreds at a time from each part of the state. One of their key talking points: If you took the uninsured from age 19 to 64 in Hamilton County alone, you'd have 25,000 people on the Statehouse lawn.

House Republicans insist the regulations are too tangled and cumbersome, the future costs too uncertain. They were not swayed by today's turnout. But certainty about expanding Medicaid connects a crazy-quilt coalition that includes insurance and Right-to-Life, the governor and labor unions, the Chamber of Commerce and the medical community.

As the rally withstood the weather Thursday, legislative wrangling inside the Capitol to revive the expansion was taking place. Democratic state representative Alicia Reece told the crowd, "Someone's going to have to pay for this. The hospitals are going to be stuck with these huge bills."

With House Republicans blocking expansion, the Democratic Black Caucus put forward its own bill Thursday. Members need 11 more votes for passage.